What is a “Black Box” and How Can It Help My Truck Accident Claim?

Posted January 13, 2023 in

If you were injured in a truck accident, it is important that you take immediate steps to protect your rights and preserve valuable evidence to establish fault for the crash. One important piece of evidence in truck accident cases is black box data. An experienced truck accident lawyer from Mingo & Yankala, S.C. can explain what a black box is and how it can help your claim.

What Are Semi-Truck Black Boxes

What is a Semi-Truck’s Black Box?

An event data recorder or “black box” is a computer system that records important data. In the event of a crash, this data can help establish how the accident occurred and factors that may have contributed to it. This data might help prove that the truck driver was at fault for the accident. The data can serve as compelling evidence, especially when the truck driver’s and the victim’s versions of events differ. 

Some of the data that a black box might record may include:

  • The truck’s speed immediately before the crash
  • Acceleration or deceleration that occurred immediately before the accident
  • The application of brakes and their timing 
  • The history of the truck’s speed
  • Whether cruise control was activated near the time of the crash
  • When and how long the truck was driven
  • How many different crashes the truck was involved in 
  • GPS coordinates 

The potential information that is stored on a truck’s black box depends on the make and model of the truck, the type of black box installed in the vehicle, and the trucking company’s policies. Some black boxes record communications between truck drivers and trucking or logistics companies. 

How Can Black Box Data Help Your Truck Accident Claim?

The data contained in a black box may contain compelling information that can help establish liability. If your truck accident lawyer can obtain this information, it can potentially strengthen your claim. 

Accident reconstruction specialists can use the data stored in black boxes to recreate the accident on computer software to show how the accident likely occurred. These presentations can often prove to be persuasive evidence in insurance negotiations or trials. 

How to Obtain Black Box Data

After a truck accident, trucking companies often deploy insurance adjusters and lawyers to represent their interests. Insurance companies and trucking companies are interested in protecting their profit margins and often do so by minimizing or denying claims. Therefore, it is usually very difficult to obtain evidence that may help establish liability against the company from the company itself without the help of a lawyer. 

At the same time, it is often critical to get the black box data as quickly as possible after an accident. Many black boxes automatically record over older data, so you will want to preserve the evidence before it is erased or destroyed. Your lawyer can take steps to prevent the company from destroying the data or to compel it from the company. 

The team at Mingo & Yankala, S.C. can help identify and obtain important evidence in your case. Contact us today for a free and confidential case review.